A small to medium white hedgehog mushroom with spines instead of gills on the underside of the cap. The bright white cap ages to cream or cream-peach, and the stem and flesh stain orange only slowly and faintly. It was redefined from eastern North American material in 2018, when several similar white species were separated from it.
Edible (Wikipedia, citing Miller and Miller). No dangerous look-alikes are documented; other toothed mushrooms such as Hydnellum and Sarcodon are tough, corky or bitter rather than fleshy. Several other white Hydnum species occur in eastern North America and are separated mainly by size, staining speed and spores.
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Habitat
Ectomycorrhizal; on the ground in hardwood and mixed woods with birch, oak, beech, hemlock, pine and fir. June to early September (Swenie et al. 2018).
Distribution
Eastern Canada and the eastern United States (Nova Scotia and Vermont to Tennessee and North Carolina), with a sequence reported from Veracruz, Mexico. Swenie et al. (2018) report no western North American records; white hedgehogs in the West belong to other species, such as H. washingtonianum.
Characteristics
Cap: 15-50 mm, round to kidney-shaped, convex to plano-convex or uplifted; bright white, becoming cream or cream-peach; margin incurved when young, undulating with age. Spines: 1-6 mm long, white to cream, subdecurrent to decurrent, easily rubbed off. Stem: 15-45 x 5-15 mm, central or off-center, equal to bulbous at the base, staining orange-ochre. Flesh: white to pale cream, slowly staining orange. Odor: mild, becoming fruity like apricots when stored in foil. Taste: mild, occasionally peppery. Spores: 4.5-6 x 3-4.5 µm, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, smooth (Swenie et al. 2018).
